Essence of Midnight

Susan Kearney used to set fire to herself four times a day. Now she does something really hot — she writes romantic suspense for Silhouette Intrigue.

While she hasn't performed her signature fire dive from a 10-metre platform in years, she started diving at age 10. By age 12, she'd won the New Jersey State Championship, and by college, she was a three-time All-American Diver.

While attending the University of Michigan, she earned a business degree that led to her diverse careers as, variously, a partner in a barter business, a real estate appraiser, a mover and renovator of houses, and owner of three hair salons. Finally, in 1995, she sold her first book and became a full-time writer. She's currently plotting her way through her 14th novel.

Of all her careers, her favourite is wife and mother. She married her teenage sweetheart and lives with her husband, two children, and Boston terrier in sunny Florida. She now beats the heat not by diving into cold water, but with her new hobby — figure skating. Susan also enjoys writing science fiction, screenwriting, boating, and travelling to foreign countries.

Julie Leto was born and raised in Florida to a family of Italian and Cuban descent. After picking up her first romance when she was only sixteen, Leto knew that she wanted to write one of her own. She earned degrees in Creative Writing and Speech Communications from the University of South Florida. She began writing in 1988, while she was in graduate school. After graduation she became an English teacher at Tampa Catholic High School and continued to write on weekends and at night. In 1996, in order to give herself more time to write, Leto quit her teaching job and joined her family's manufacturing business. The following year she sold her fourth completed novel, Seducing Sullivan to Harlequin Temptation. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to a daughter and chose to be a full-time writer and mother.

Julie loves to hear from her readers via her email: jul...@julieleto.com